1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for obtaining accessibility information in the content of a rich internet application, and more particularly relates to a computer program and an accessibility information device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, rich internet applications (RIA) as represented by Flash™ and Dynamic HTML (DHTML) have greatly increased in number. Due to the sudden rise of Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript™+XML), DHTML is being actively used in many Web applications. Furthermore, Flash™, which displayed simple animations in 1996, has been installed in 98% or more computers during the following 10 years. Flash™ provides components for voice output, script-based user interaction, and GUI (Graphical User Interface), handles high level graphic processing functions, streaming moving images, and has established its position as a platform for providing interactive content.
In this way, while RIA is being actively applied on the Web, the importance of accessibility is increasing. However, in RIA such as DHTML and Flash™, (1) information is often represented by images instead of text because importance is placed on visual effects (in such a case, alternative text is often not provided, which plays a role as a comment on the image information); (2) since ESMAScript as a standard specification of Javascript™ is used for designing a user interface, presentation is limited by a script. Therefore, it is difficult to understand what a Role a respective object of content has.
In DHTML, an effort to establish a standard called WAI-ARIA (http://www.w3.org/TR/aria-roadmap/) has started, by which a framework for securing accessibility is becoming established. However, according to WAI-ARIA, a creator of content has to assign information such as Role and State as needed using a script. In the present circumstances, however, there is little WAI-ARIA compliant content available.
A mechanism for accessibility is prepared for Flash™ as well, and a method is prepared which provides information on Role and State using a mechanism called MSAA (Microsoft™ Active Accessibility) (see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms697707.aspx). In reality, however, there has not been enough effort made to handle the accessibility of Flash™. Thus, most of Flash™ content on the Internet is not accessible, so that it is almost impossible for a visually impaired user to operate such content, when he/she accesses the content using a screen reader reading aloud the content on a screen.